WHAT THE ANIMALS SAY, David Ireland's Debut Play, to Open at Finborough Theatre
Matthew Blaney and Robbie Martin star as ex-classmates confronting buried tensions on the Stranraer ferry route.
Playwright David Ireland will return to the Finborough Theatre for the fourth time with a unique opportunity to see his first play – What The Animals Say plays for a strictly limited four week season from Tuesday, 29 September 2026 (Press Nights: Thursday, 1 October 2026 and Friday, 2 October 2026 at 7.30pm).
Two ex-classmates wait for the Stranraer ferry back to Belfast… Jimmy is a struggling actor chasing the break that never comes. Eddie is a celebrity footballer who, despite being Protestant, is the captain of Celtic.
At first, they reconnect over football, Father Ted and the staunch Unionist culture they grew up in, but what begins as banter spirals into confrontation as buried resentments, betrayal and violence rise to the surface…
Provocative and hilarious, David Ireland's explosive debut play is a portrait of two men trapped by the stories they tell themselves and each other.
First performed in 2009 at Òran Mór, Glasgow, as part of their legendary A Play, A Pie and A Pint season, and newly urgent in an era of renewed political tribalism and sectarianism, What the Animals Say is where it all began…
Harry Burton directs Robbie Martin and Matthew Blaney returning to the Finborough Theatre after his OffWestEnd Award nominated performance in David Ireland's Not Now.
Playwright David Ireland was born in Belfast and brought up in County Down. He was Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in 2011-2012. In 2010, Everything Between Us, first produced by Solas Nua and Tinderbox Theatre Company, was performed in Belfast, Scotland and Washington, D.C., winning the Stewart Parker Trust BBC Radio Drama Award and the Meyer-Whitworth Award for Best New Play. It received its English premiere at the Finborough Theatre in 2017. Yes So I Said Yes was first performed at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, in 2011 as part of the Belfast Festival and then on a tour of Northern Ireland, where its performances in Omagh led to the theatre being picketed by a local church group. In 2021, Yes So I Said Yes had its Great Britain premiere at the Finborough Theatre, London, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the partition of Ireland. Cyprus Avenue premiered at The Royal Court Theatre before transferring to The Public Theater, New York City, The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, winning The Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Drama. It returned to The Royal Court Theatre in 2019. It received over 100,000 views online. In 2018, Ireland's Ulster American was performed by the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of their Edinburgh Festival season, where it was awarded the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, and won Best Female Performance, Best New Play and Best Production at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland. Not Now had its English premiere at the Finborough Theatre in 2022. The Fifth Step premiered at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh as part of their Edinburgh Festival season in 2024, before transferring to @sohoplace, London in 2025, and Most Favoured was seen at Soho Theatre in 2025.
Director Harry Burton has directed The Lover (Bridewell Theatre), The Room (Royal Court Theatre), The Dumb Waiter (West End), The Dwarfs (White Bear Theatre) all by Harold Pinter, Quartermaine's Terms (Theatre Royal Windsor), I Found My Horn (Chichester Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and Trafalgar Studios), Where I Come From (Kentucky Rep), The Leisure Society (Trafalgar Studios), Casualties (Park Theatre), Barking In Essex (Wyndham's Theatre), God Of Carnage (Copenhagen), Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Road (Trafalgar Studios), The Dogwalker (Jermyn Street Theatre) and C'Mon Angie! (White Bear Theatre). He was Associate Director on What The Butler Saw (Vaudeville Theatre). On television, Harry directed the acclaimed Channel 4 documentary Working With Pinter, and co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Robert Bly – A Thousand Years Of Joy. He has acted and directed in theatre, television, film and radio for four decades. Highlights as a performer include playing Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), the title role in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (Vienna Festival and BBC2), and the world premiere of Tony Haygarth's Dark Meaning Mouse at the Finborough Theatre.
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